'Pegger in running for sexiest candidate

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Elmwood-Transcona candidate Ilona Niemczyk never thought she’d be in a headshot-to-headshot battle this election.

But the 35-year-old Liberal MP hopeful is currently in first place for the title of Canada’s Sexiest Election Candidate.

“At first I thought, what is this?” said Niemczyk, adding in the first days of the election campaign, she came across the blog-only contest.

She friended the blogger, Zach Bussey, on Facebook and asked him “a lot of questions” to make sure the contest was lighthearted and fun.

“You know, I didn’t want to be associated … with anything that was mean.”Bussey said he created the online contest to combat voter apathy and told Niemczyk it was a different way to engage voters.

“And it is, he’s got our websites and Facebook and Twitter, and people have been finding me through there and asking me Liberal-platform specific questions, so in that way, it has worked.”Niemczyk said she’s surprised she’s made it to the final four, and when she last checked, she was winning.

“I don’t think I’m better looking than any other person, really,” she said. “It’s a compliment.”